Because this is a high demand job and I was interviewed two weeks ago I thought it was time to start applying to more jobs- which is what I was doing when Dr. Weis offered me the position today.
I was trying to cover my emotion while I was still on the phone but I'll admit...I got teary-eyed. Then I called my dad and bust out the celebratory Nutella!Not even a BLIZZARD can get me down!
And now the adventure story:
My second Sunday at church was a fast Sunday. Testimony meeting was grand especially when Laura some how tied in gene numbers to acne and a testimony. Between that and Angela talking about Elder Holland shouting Don't you understand?! over the pulpit (which she recreated brilliantly) I began to feel better about the ward. There was even a marriage proposal! They mean business here. Anyway, I thought I would be brave and sit next to someone I didn't know in Relief Society so I sat next to Laura. Just the kind of quirky science person that makes a girl feel right at home.As we were talking she was giving me interview advice when I learned that low and behold she is a PhD student for Dr. Weis! That took the edge off my nerves and I hit up that interview with new determination. So I was told to go to the Eccles building and his office was on the first floor. I could park at Huntsman or the hospital or there was a parking garage that connected to the building if I could find it. Well the U of U is huge and includes a medical school so I thought my odds of getting lost would decrease if I just parked at the easiest target. When I made it to Huntsman the conversation went something like this:
"Visitor or patient"
"Neither...I was told I could park here to go to the Eccles building"
"You have to be a visitor or patient to park here"
"What if I walk through the building on my way there" Awkward smile...
Stone-faced. "No"
"Can I go through to turn around at least?"
Gate raises.
Alright, so that failed and I have ten minutes before I need to be there...I guess I'll try and park at the University Hospital then (fingers crossed). And they do allow free guest parking there!! I even found a spot next to an elevator to ensure that I would not forget where I parked. I may or may not have done that in the past...in the conference center parking lot...and was lost for 15 or 20 minutes.
Anyway, for those of you familiar with the "U" practically everything is named "Eccles" I looked it up on-line the night before to see that it was named Emma Eccles Jones Medical Research Building. So after exiting the hospital having my map of campus out and considering myself mostly lost, I ran over to two police officers in a patrol car. I took them completely off guard and they had no idea where the building was. They looked at me like I was crazy. It wasn't until after I walked away I noticed there was someone in the backseat of their vehicle wearing a bright orange jumpsuit. Oops. Imagine my joy after walking up hills and around buildings when I see the tiny Emma Eccles Jones building!
It was 5 after the hour and I was in a hurry to find the place. I walked all around the 1st floor of that building. They were all labs and walk in fridges! Only one professor had a labeled office. At this point I was thinking "Seriously? I JUST WANT A JOB!!!" So I walked into his lab and asked where he was. Obviously he was in the back and to the right. Obviously.
I was so proud of myself for finally finding the place that I didn't care he was on the phone. The interview went pretty well and he said the first test was to see if I could find the place. I don't think he was kidding... He told me about the research and what he expected from a lab tech. I thought he just wanted a "dish washer" but no. Glory be! I would be allowed to throw myself into research like a grad student without the classes! At the end he said he thought I would be terrific for the position but he had to interview a few more candidates. I walked out of there on cloud 9.
Would I have any problem working with mice? Chortle.
Am I a PETA rep in disguise? Um...not that I am aware.
Apparently that had happened a while back with the monkey labs. I'm told that those monkeys are treated really well- much better than the poor and homeless.
(As a side note for those of you unfamiliar with animal treatment in laboratories we take their sacrifice very seriously. Go check out IACUC if you have any problems.)
He joked about me coming from super conservative BYU and how he was more liberal than that. Apparently the job will be available if those tea party members don't get control of the government. Otherwise all American science will stop and the Chinese will take over research. So if that happens I will be out of a job but isn't the future great?
This lab reminds me of the great times I had working with Dr. O'Neill and Dr. Bundy at BYU. I'm so grateful to finally have a job! It's times like this when I reflect and notice two things about God.
1) He has a great sense of humor
2) He really is my loving Heavenly Father and is watching over me
So, celebrate with me by learning about what I'm going to study!
" Our laboratory studies the interfaces between the innate and acquired immune responses. We take a genetics approach, using the mouse as a model system, to decipher molecular and cellular interactions.
One current focus in the lab includes the maturation and differentiation of B cells with the intent to identify key transcription control proteins that regulate this process. Mouse B cells enter the spleen from the bone marrow requiring a number of maturation steps to insure they are competent to respond to antigen following an infection. These immature B cells must negotiate through a series of differentiation checkpoints, requiring transcriptional induction and suppression of key target genes. We have identified a number of transcriptional control proteins that are up regulated and down regulated during this stage of B cell development. To define their roles in B cell function, we have created and are analyzing lines of mice that lack these gene products in maturing B cells, or inappropriately maintain their expression during B cell maturation.
Another project in the lab has been to study the structure, expression and function of a set of mouse proteins known as the complement receptors. These proteins are critical for controlling complement activation during immune reactions and serve to assist in the production of the full range of B cell products. Inappropriate expression of such proteins (such as engineered mouse anomalies or human deficiencies) can give rise to a range of symptoms including autoimmunity, susceptibility to natural infections and a degraded antibody response. We have created strains of mice either deficient in such proteins (deficiency of the two major CD21 gene products) or with engineered germ line mutations that result in either mutant protein production or inappropriate expression. We have also created mice that only make one or the other of the two major isoforms of the CD21 proteins. We are currently analyzing such mice and are defining previously unknown feedback pathways that are regulated by this set of proteins.
Another project in the lab focuses upon defining the maturation steps T cells take in positive and negative selection within the thymus, focusing upon the role of the Snai3 transcription factor on the gen eration and function of CD8+ cytotoxic T cells. Snai3 is a transcriptional repressor, blocking expression of key genes within the lineage of these cells. Our goals in this project are to identify the gene targets for this factor and define the pathways of cell activation controlled by Snai3" Dr. Weis' Research Lab Department of Pathology University of UtahAnd if that seemed rather boring and you skipped through it here is a good overview for you! For the record that whole website it awesome. I used it to teach a review session once in general microbiology (tear wipe) so fun.
If you are the more hands on learning type:
Use the immune system cells to BLAST away infection with General Macrophage!
Or if you could really care less than here is a picture book for children that will explain some things. It sounds epic to me.
"When our hero Pox, a young Chickenpox germ finds himself in the germ academy, he finds out that infecting is not really for him! Try as Pox might, he just can't work up the enthusiasm for sickness that his classmates - Snot, Rash, Pus and Scab - so obviously feel for the task. And when Pox is sent to ruin Myrtle's birthday, things don't work out as planned for Myrtle, Pox or indeed his horrible classmates. A fantastic and utterly bizarre picture book by the incomparable Ross Collins."
From what I gather from the website they are supposed to infect little Myrtle on her birthday but instead they enter Myrtle's dog and get the stuffing knocked out of them by little doggy macrophages. With friends like Snot, Rash, Pus and Scab who needs enemies gee whiz. I'm not even going to start about how horribly inaccurate this is! BAH! Varicella Zoster Virus could freakn' care less about who it infects! Theys infectin EVERYBODY!
Cough cough. Alright
On second thought, I think I can actually see this causing nightmares in young children so in the future I think I will stick to good ole fashion The Magic School Bus. One day I'll be a teacher like Ms. Frizzle :-)
What have I been doing in Utah besides looking for jobs you may wonder?
Wonder no more.
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